Right Thinking from the Left Coast

Tag: Pennsylvania State University

I’m too close to this to comment objectively. But feel free to make your opinions known on today’s Freeh Report on the Penn State scandal. I’ll pop in for a comment or two.

Update: OK, I’ll kick this off. One of the things being discussed is whether the NCAA should give Penn State’s football program the death penalty. I won’t pretend I’m objective about it, but I will point out the following:

People hurt by canceling the football program: all the scholarship football players, athletes in other programs whose scholarships depend on football bringing in money, local businesses that depend on football to stay in the black and thousands of their employees, State College’s economy in general which depends heavily on the University, tens of thousands of students and hundreds of thousands of alumni who are fans.

People who will not be hurt by canceling the football program: Joe Paterno, Jerry Sandusky, Curley, Schulz and Spanier.

Ya’ll know that I live in Pennsylvania and that I work in academia. So you can imagine I’m a little conflicted about blogging on the ugly scandal has rocked Penn State this week. So I won’t comment just yet — my emotions are pretty raw. But discuss.

Update: OK, I will say one thing. The only information that is currently public is the grand jury report, which mostly details the vile behavior of the (alleged) pedophile. It only talks about other matters as they relate to the charges that have been brought. Inventing a narrative — favorable or unfavorable — will not advance the discussion.